Be a Creator of Value

This series of six videos is focused on the creation of value in strategic alliances – business’ most intimate, complex, challenging, and important form of relationship.

Most strategic alliances fail; they fail to achieve their full value-creating potential. This is because:

Businesses ‘suck’ at relationship. They see relationship as a problem area that needs to be managed. They do not or cannot see relationship as their most strategically-important asset.

The climate in the world of business is counter to the creation of value. It is (a) fear-based (“my job is at risk”), (b) scarcity-oriented (“your win is my loss”), and (c) lacking in trust (“you might steal my ideas”).

Strategic alliance managers are reluctant to embrace their power as creators. At their best, they are creators of value.

This first video: introduces you to me (Joe Kittel), focuses us on value-creating (not value-exchange) relationships (a.k.a., strategic alliances), focuses us on business’ highest purpose (not making money, but creating value), and it begins to help us reassess and redefine our understanding of relationship itself.

This second video: provides a brief review of the first video, focusing us on and in relationship itself. Relationship itself is actually business’ most strategically important asset.

We explore five simple truths (spiritual ideas or principles) which naturally deepen relationship, freeing up the flow of ideas (the precursor to creativity) – thus increasing value-creation. We also explore ‘dialogue’ – giving and receiving, listening and being heard, within and without. We focus on inner dialogue between mind and heart. Dialogue deepens relationship, enabling value-creation.

In the remainder of this series of videos, we will be exploring the dialogue that happens in a collective web of relationship (e.g., a strategic alliance – a long-term value-creating relationship).

How can we ‘listen’ to relationship itself, especially a collective web of relationship (e.g., a strategic alliance).

Relationship enables a strategic alliance to accomplish its purpose. When we listen to relationship (i.e., when we love it), it cannot help but reciprocate, sharing with us its wisdom and insight.

We talk about the need to first clear-up vision, before we can discover and uncover new value-creating opportunities.

We introduce the first slide in the 2-Slide Methodology(TM) focused on Value-Impediments, and we overview how this slide gets developed, and the powerful impact it had in the HP/Microsoft corporate-level alliance, putting a $20M deal at American Express back on-track.

After the air has been cleared, we are able to see new value-creating opportunities, and a practical long-term vision for the alliance.

We introduce the second slide in the 2-Slide Methodology(TM), focused on the creation of Incremental Value. We overview how this slide allowed HP to accomplish the impossible with SAP, and establish a relationship that was valued in excess of $300M.

Apply concepts from Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle (quantum physics) to your strategic alliance, to the collective web of relationship that is the source of all created value. The observer affects the observed.

Observe the web of relationship. Watch is awaken. Watch collective web of relationship itself awaken; deepen and expand its ability to share its great wisdom and insights with you.

Be observant.

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Conscious Change Agent

The Conscious Change Agent Web Show is hosted by Jack Butler. He interviews conscious change agents – people who are mastering the paradigm of inner-work and outer-change. This show provides a platform for change agents to share their wisdom and to help us all understand the causes and workings of agents-of-change.

Note that in some of these interviews are a few swear words – a limited use as needed or when quoting others. This is partly due to the fact that the Universe needs to swear at Joe from time to time, to get his attention.

Today Joe is focused on increasing the value-creating effectiveness in strategic alliances via the practical use of spiritual principles. His practical spirituality is based on (1) recovering from drug addiction and (2) living with the disabilities in two of his four children – his two “spiritual universities”. He talks about transforming “old Joe” to “new Joe” and how this happened (it is still happening).

Self-will (a highly-competitive driver-driver), intelligence (excessive analysis) and confrontational intensity (from competitiveness) are morphing from spiritual disabilities into apparent assets. Some of the other lessons learned from Joe’s two spiritual universities are:

how acceptance leads to transcendence

how embracement (acceptance with love) leads to transformation

the transcendental and transformational power of shared light

our oneness

the need to stay in the moment

the power of gratitude

the joy of embracing death

Maybe we chose this … our life situation, the world we are living in, our challenges and our blessings.

We start off defining spirituality as the deepening of relationship; with others, with self and with the Universe. And deeper is better because we are all great at our core. By the way, this is all one relationship. This definition works, it can be used in business without stirring up religious issues.

Most alliances fail, mostly because of failure in relationship; and, so practical spirituality is the answer. The proof of spirituality’s value lies in answering the questions “Is it helpful? Does it change how we relate to one another?”

Five simple truths (principles or ideas) are discussed: oneness, now, we create (based on thoughts), love (beyond romantic love), and trust. Trust is fundamental in every relationship. It is both cause and effect in living a spiritual life. It is both the prerequisite for and the result of spirituality.

Spiritual practices are authentic behaviors based on the embodiment (thinking about) spiritual ideas. Meditation is briefly discussed, along with the real-world empowerment that comes from the counter-intuitive practice of self-obsolescence. This comes from a reflection on our relationship with the attributes of deity (omniscience, omnipotence and omnipresence); and the realization that giving and receiving are one.

We discuss love vs. fear, or living a life of connectedness vs. a life of separation. Love is the force which compels us all to grow. Love’s purpose is love. And depression is the result of obscuring our light and suppressing our higher-purpose (fighting against Love’s compulsion to have us grow).

So, how is spirituality being received in the world of business today? We are in the era of the rise of conscious capitalism, according to the books Megatrends 2010 and the Conscious Capitalism Movement. If you want to find a true mystic you are better off finding one in a corporate board room than you are in a monastery or a cathedral (from the book The Corporate Mystic). This stuff works, it works all the time and everywhere.

Corporations, like individuals, simply need to wake up to the truth they already know and the truth of who they are. Corporations may not be using spiritual words, but these ideas explain why the most successful strategies work. Spirituality is not necessary, but it is helpful in understanding and explaining the fundamentals.

The role of competition with inspiration is discussed; some degree of healthy competition is good. Microsoft is an example of a business that has been excessively competitive, to the detriment of both itself and its ecosystem (e.g., over-priced and under-used “bloatware”). The flip side of competition is inspiration, this is one thing Apple does well – they inspire us to be better.

It only takes one partner to bring enlightenment into a relationship. If you’re the one, it forces you to be clearer about your spirituality (e.g., love, service and trust) and it provides you with a great opportunity to really make a difference (i.e., bringing water to the desert).

What is the proof that this stuff works? Doing the impossible between Hewlett-Packard and SAP provided Joe with “proof” that this stuff is helpful. Try it out.

So how does spirituality actually deepen relationships? How can we span divergent perspectives and differing cultures? We see evidence of this chasm when we start labeling the behavior of the other as signs of deviousness, incompetency or lunacy. We then know there is a cloud or shadows in our relationship, something inhibiting perspective.

Via the transcendental and transformational power of shared light we practice confrontation – co-facing issues in a relationship. We call for trust and trust that trust will come; and, it will. When we openly and honestly share perspectives, about ourselves and about the other, this process transforms hostile relationships into friendships. Or we may decide to end a relationship when clarity comes into it and we realize that trust is not possible.

Joe sees the need to awaken in our most intimate, intense and challenging relationships; these relationships are crucibles for enlightenment. In the world of business this is happening in strategic alliances – business’ most intense and most important form of relationship. It is the eye of the hurricane for conscious capitalism.

Joe is optimistic for the future. The challenges we face (environment, economy, terrorism, etc.) can best be addressed from a place of oneness, love and trust. The Universe will progress and grow, humanity can learn to cooperate or not. Either way it will be good and we will learn from it, whether we go along with it or not.